Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Nexus One Releases

As expected, the Nexus One released today to much hype and anticiapation online.

For weeks there has been many rumours floating around concerning the actual price of the device, as well as, when it would be released. The rumours stated that the Nexus One would retail at $530 unlocked from Google themselves, or at $180 through T-mobile on a 2 year contract. It was also to be rumoured to release on Jan.5.

As time went on we received more and more details on the Nexus One, which came to a head with the release of Engadget's review of the unit a few days ago. Engadget confirmed many of the technical details that were bouncing around on line concerning the Nexus One, and put to rest the debate as to whether or not the Nexus One would be the iPhone killer it had been made out to be. Which unfortunately, it wasn't.

Today, my anticipation for the Nexus One grow, as I found myself checking up on google.com/phone to see if the site was up and checking in on Gizmodo to see if they had started live blogging. At 9:30 am, Google's press conference began and Gizmodo keeped right on it, ( I don't know how that guy at the conference could post so fast and take pictures), giving us every detail that was unveiled during the conference. Which by the way, confirmed that the rumours were in fact right about everything concerning the Nexus One.

Also, google.com/phone very quickly after the start of the press conference went live to reveal Google's new retail site for the phone, and one thing very quickly became apparent. Google wasn't going to be selling the phone to everyone. When I visited google.com/phone, I was greeted with a message stating "Sorry, the Nexus One is not available in your country". To say that I was a little upset is a bit of an understatement.

Anyone that has read the posts that I put up concerning the Nexus One, knows I was waiting for this phone. Its really disappointing that Google has decided to ship the phone only to Britian, US, Sinapore and Hong Kong. Why not Canada? I can understand if Google feels they will have shortages on the Nexus One or something, but really restricting where you will let the phone ship. Why don't they just see if the phone sells first then worry about limiting it? Its really disappointing Google has decided to do this. I know that I may never buy Nexus One now, as I need a phone now and unless I can get someone to order me one, I'm going to probably go with a Blackberry or something.

By the way, for anyone interested, I checked eBay to see how the Nexus One is selling. As of the writing of this post, the cheapest Nexus One on eBay is at a bid of $640 with no buy out price, and the cheapest buy out price is $799. I want the Nexus One, but I'm not willing to pay much more than what Google was offering it for.

My ranting aside, the Nexus One looks to be a good phone and kind of puts Google in an interesting spot. As Engadget pointed out in their review, Google is now officially competing with the companies licensing their Android software. Is this a good thing? Maybe. From a business perspective, I believe that it could make the Android platform less desirable for companies to license, as Google could theoretically create a better Android phone, being the company developing the software. This is probably one of the reasons why Microsoft hasn't decided to try and compete with its Windows Mobile licensees. But, from a consumer perspective it could be good, as Google can force its licensees to step up and create a better phones.

In any case, I hope Google quickly reconsiders not shipping the Nexus One to Canada. Also, hopefully the Nexus One will help to create more competition in the wireless handset space.

But enough from me. What are your thoughts on the Nexus One? Can you buy one?